CHAPTER XI. THE VICTORIAN AGE (1850-1900)It is needless to say thatHeroesis not a book of history; nei-
ther is it scientifically written in the manner of Gibbon. With
science in any form Carlyle had no patience; and he miscal-
culated the value of that patient search for facts and evidence
which science undertakes before building any theories, ei-
ther of kings or cabbages. The book, therefore, abounds in
errors; but they are the errors of carelessness and are perhaps
of small consequence. His misconception of history, how-
ever, is more serious. With the modern idea of history, as
the growth of freedom among all classes, he has no sympa-
thy. The progress of democracy was to him an evil thing, a
"turning of the face towards darkness and anarchy." At cer-
tain periods, according to Carlyle, God sends us geniuses,
sometimes as priests or poets, sometimes as soldiers or states-
men; but in whatever guise they appear, these are our real
rulers. He shows, moreover, that whenever such men appear,
multitudes follow them, and that a man’s following is a sure
index of his heroism and kingship.
Whether we agree with Carlyle or not, we must accept
for the moment his peculiar view of history, elseHeroescan
never open its treasures to us. The book abounds in startling
ideas, expressed with originality and power, and is pervaded
throughout by an atmosphere of intense moral earnestness.
The more we read it, the more we find to admire and to re-
member.
Carlyle’sFrench Revolution(1837) is to be taken more se-
riously as a historical work; but here again his hero wor-
ship comes to the front, and his book is a series of flash-
lights thrown upon men in dramatic situations, rather than
a tracing of causes to their consequences. The very titles of
his chapters–"Astraea Redux," "Windbags," "Broglie the War
God"–do violence to our conception of history, and are more
suggestive of Carlyle’s individualism than of French history.
He is here the preacher rather than the historian; his text is
the eternal justice; and his message is that all wrongdoing is
inevitably followed by vengeance. His method is intensely